When Gerald sees the flashing blue lights in his rearview mirror he panics. Using on-board computers, the police already know the Honda Accord is stolen.

Police do not know that Gerald is on parole after serving time for burglary. Tonight’s caper should send him back to the state pen to max out the burglary sentence, plus whatever time the court hands out for auto theft.

Gerald does the predictable thing—he stops the car, bails out and heads into a roadside wooded area. Did I mention that Gerald also has a gun? Yet another violation for a parolee.

Here’s Gerald running wildly through dense woods with two police officers close behind. Who knows what must be going through Gerald’s mind. He may be thinking: "Chasing me through the woods will make those cops hot and sweaty and they’ll give up and go back to their air conditioned car."

Maybe that’s what Gerald’s thinking, but he’s wrong. The chase only intensifies the resolve of the police officers to catch this guy. The cops may be wondering, "What has this guy done besides steal a car?"

Once Gerald realizes the police aren’t going to give up the chase, he decides that a few shots fired back at the boys in blue will discourage their pursuit.

Gerald draws a 9mm semi-automatic Ruger from his belt and fires over his left shoulder, while on the run. Predictably, the cops take cover.

Next we learn that Gerald cannot walk and chew gun at the same time. More accurately, he can’t shoot—and run.

Gerald’s shots are wild. The last shot strikes him in the head just above his left ear. That brings him to his knees and he falls, facedown, into the dirt. There were only four shots fired—all of them by Gerald. Police had their weapons out but did not fire.

Gerald never regained consciousness. He died early the next morning in the ER. In two weeks he would have been 20.